Abigail

Plot

After a group of criminals kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they're locked inside with no normal little girl.

Cast

Alisha Weir knocks it out of the park with her performance, Melissa Barrera is solid, Kevin Durand is excellent as always and Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton and Giancarlo Esposito are er also there.

Verdict

I don't go the cinema often, usually this is because of limited time, inevitable disappointment and the ridiculous expense involved. The missus wanted to see this so I made an exception, I was right about the expense as it came to just over £50 which is lunacy for a 90 minute presentation and don't even get me started on how many adverts I had to endure (And I don't mean trailers).

But did I at least least enjoy the film? Well, yeah I really did. Alas this is certainly a movie where a person would be better off not watching the trailer, knowing the big twist straight out of the gate certainly damaged the film but it was so good and threw so many additional curveballs it just didn't matter.

A solid cast (I'm a Durand fanboy) including a child actress who absolutely nailed her role to unexpected levels, a decent budget, great setting, decent cinematography and dare I say some levels of originality Abigail was an unexpectedly good film and everything I wanted M3gan (2022) to be.

See I've slated Hollywood horror for years claiming they've lost their way but movies like this demonstrate all hope is not lost.

Gory, over the top yet fairly smart and fantastically executed Abigail is a solid horror film.

Rants

Poor Barrera, glad to see she's having a decent career post her ridiculous firing from the Scream series. Who'd have thought that being against genocide is a bad thing and a person could get fired over having that stance? Plenty in support of it are doing just fine. What a time to be alive!

The Good

Barrera, Durand and Weir Sufficiently gory Very well constructed Barrels of fun Plenty of twists to keep you entertained

The Bad

I feel the finale could have been handled a smidge better Newton didn't seem on form.

Enjoyable a day later, but on release as I was watching the movie, I kept expecting more. Some kind of twist and even a possible movie connecting during the ending. But alas, the movie is exactly what you see in the trailer. As a matter of fact, it's mostly what you see in the trailer. No surprises, no extra moments (except a very small surprise towards the end), just what you see is what you get.

I definitely did run a bit longer, I think they cut out that opening segmented and just start right away. It's Worth a watch if you have a season pass of some sort, but I wouldn't go out of my way compared to some others.

This was a very neat storyline. Playing off the 'little girl horror' of the movie 'Megan', there was a excellent chance for a Lost Boys type of horror comedy. But the director, writer or computer AI did not know what to do after that.

Logic: There is absolutely none. There are approximately 4 times when they split up AFTER they learn what is going on. People are smart for about ten minutes and are completely dumb the rest of the movie.

The fight scenes are mediocre at best.

I had to push hard to finish it. Again the storyline is the only thing that kept my interest.

I am giving five stars for the storyline and the little girl's acting, which was actually good. Otherwise this is a 4-star film.

A mixed group of criminals kidnap Abigail, a young ballerina, and daughter of a powerful business mogul. The gang think they're coming into millions, but Abigail has a shocking surprise waiting for them.

One of the horror highlights of 2024 so far, it's done well at The Box Office, and it's easy to understand why, it's definitely a crowd pleaser.

A seemingly straightforward thriller very rapidly turns into a genre crossing horror movie. Abigail is a real mix of styles, it's goofy, it's funny, it's well paced, and of course there are plenty of jump scares.

Very nicely made, well shot, with some good music, which surprisingly doesn't become too intrusive.

You really can't fault any of the performances, credit very much to that young Alisha Weir, excellent as the title character. Melissa Barrera and Dan Stevens are both good, but Weir steals the show.

A cheeky And then there were none reference too.

7/10.

I saw Abigail this weekend. I was especially excited for this film since Ready or Not is one of my favorite films, and this is from the same directing team of Radio Silence and had a similar look. Although I really enjoyed it, there is absolutely no taking Ready or Not's crown.

First of all, I cannot begin to tell you how exponentially better this film would be if the trailers hadn't given away its main conceit. Given how the movie was advertised, I assumed it would be revealed in the film right away. However the movie treats it like a mystery, and isn't revealed until almost an hour in. I can't imagine how entertaining it would have been to be legitimately surprised (if somehow you haven't seen the trailer, DON'T). Secondly it's a super small cast, so every personality matters. Based on the reviews I've seen, I'm obviously in the minority, but I absolutely couldn't stand Dan Stevens in this film. I've seen and read so many reviews talking about how entertaining he was in this and Godzilla X Kong, and I found him terribly obnoxious in both. I don't get the appeal, but I'm missing something.

Thankfully there were stand outs like Angus Cloud (RIP), Kevin Durand as the not so bright Canadian Muscle and especially Alisha Weir who is an Absolute ROCK STAR as Abigail. She is already so, so good, especially as a young actress.

This film is tremendously bloody, so not for the faint of heart. Unrelated to the film, but there was a 9 year old girl at the screening with her parents holding a stuffed animal while watching it, which was definitely an eye-opener.